Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1887-07-16
MISS cAsS AS AN ISSUE.

Lie IOry uolodL III INC DfftlSu
Parliament on the motion to inves.
tigate the arrest of Miss Cass is q
severer blow than the government
and its organs are willing to admit.
The facts OF the case are briefly as
follows: Miss Cass, a nliiliner's as.
sistant, was arrested while walking
down Regent street, London, alter
ten o'clock at night. This thorough.
fare after the hour is given over the
street walkers, who tthrOng the
locality by thousands, aud hereto
fore the presence of a female on the
street after ten o'clock has been
held by the police magistrates to be
prima facie evidence OF her desre-
pute. Miss Cass was taken To the
common station. house and confined
with the herd until the magistrate
condescended to hear d, her case.
The policeman testified that he had
watched her for weeks, wherein he
lied. Her employer offered herself
as bail, which was refused by the
magistrate, and any amount Of ties
timony was volunteered to prove the
responsibility Of Miss Cass and her
absolute innocence OF the vile
charge LAID against her, all of which
the magistrate declined to hear, aud
finally discharged her with an out.
rageous reprimand and distinct
suggestion that she, was no, better
than she ought to be, and ifbrooght
before him again she would be
severely handled.
Miss Cass, burning with indig.
nation, appealed to the Home Office,
which sustained the magistrate, and
thence her appeal was taken to the
House of Commons, where Mat
thews, the heme secretary, with m.
conceivable stupidity, attempted to
shield the magistrate, with the re-
suit that the governments was voted
down by 153 to 14S, the only won
der being that the majority was SO
small. Matthews was made home
secretary at the earnest solicitation
of Lord Randolph Churchill, aud
against the circumstances OF many
of the Tories, who had neither conf
dence in his discretion nor faith in
his principles. The government at
the time was sharply satirized by
the opposition for opening its arms
to an apostate who had plainly adj
vocated home rule for Ireland years
before it had occurred to Mr.. Glad
stone as a possible contingency.
That the first serious blow to Tory
ascendancy should come through
his stupid blunder is very like setri
button but the faaltof nphoiding
the magistrate in his silly ruling
does not belong alone to Matthews,
but to the party az we'll with which
he is at present acting. Precedent
and custom are so thoroughly in
grained in the Tory creed that any.
thing which does not tally with one
or the other must either be made to
conform or must go to the wall.
For years whereof the memory of
man runneth not to the contrary.
no yirtuous women had been seen
by the police on Regent street after
ten-oclock at night, and therefore
Miss Cass must be o prostitute. 1t
is barefaced and homely iIlustrs-
ton of the inability OF the Tory
party to break loose from moOriBgs,
however useless aud unsafe they
may have grown, and concern them.
selves with the great reforms whose
necessity is patent to every body else
in Great Decentralization.
...
ITCH, NANCE and SCRATCHES Of
every kind ON human or animals cured